The man at the centre of the global scandal over faulty breast implants sold to hundreds of thousands of women faced some of his accusers as his trial opened in Marseille.

Jean-Claude Mas, 73, the founder of French firm Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), whose leaky implants were sold to more than 347,000 women around the world, was confronted by some of his accusers for the first time on Wednesday.

He and four of his senior staff are on trial for aggravated fraud and face up to five years in jail and a €37,500 ($47,500) fine if convicted.

Scores of women are due to give evidence. A total of 5127 victims have joined the action as civil parties and are being represented by about 300 lawyers.

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PIP, once the world's third-largest supplier of breast implants, is accused of cutting costs for 10 years by using an illegal home-made mixture of industrial-grade and agricultural silicone not fit for use on humans.

The company hid evidence of the non-medical silicone during visits by European inspectors who approved the implants. Use of the illegal silicone saved the company €1 million a year - it cost €5 a litre, seven times cheaper than standard gel.

Mr Mas has previously admitted lying about the gel he used, but denied that the substandard implants posed any health risks, dismissing the complainants as ''fragile people, or people who are doing this for money''.

Boos erupted and one person shouted ''bastard'' as the PIP founder stood up to declare his earnings, a monthly pension of less than €1800. As his company declared bankruptcy, he will escape paying compensation to implant victims, who can expect a maximum of €4179 from a state fund.

One of the British plaintiffs, Jan Spivey, 50, received PIP implants as part of reconstructive surgery in 2002 following breast cancer. She had the implants removed and replaced on the NHS after a long battle last August.

''Jean-Claude Mas has made me along with many other women suffer hugely, spreading torment,'' she said. ''I actually regard him as a terrorist and can't think of any criminal behaviour directed against women on this scale ever.''

She said she hoped the trial would see ''those responsible for an international health crisis brought to account''.

In the dock with Mr Mas are four other executives who worked at PIP before it went bankrupt when the scandal erupted in 2010: Claude Couty, the chairman, Loic Gossart, Thierry Brinon and Hannelore Font. All deny wrongdoing.

The scandal emerged after surgeons warned authorities there was an abnormally high rupture rate among PIP implants. Soon afterwards, the company was closed and its products taken off the market.

In December 2011, the French health ministry advised women with PIP implants to have them removed as a precaution, saying that, while there was no proven cancer risk, they could rupture.